


Forever is a Long Time (But I Wouldn't Mind Spending It By Your Side)

by imsodonewithlarrystylinson



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-27
Updated: 2013-08-27
Packaged: 2017-12-24 19:31:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/943804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imsodonewithlarrystylinson/pseuds/imsodonewithlarrystylinson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was October when he decided he wanted to propose to Louis. He'd always known he wanted to marry him, they'd even talked about it a few times. Not in great detail, but late at night sometimes they would talk about when they're finally completely out of the spotlight and able to get married and adopt kids and have a normal sort of life.</p>
<p>Now it'd been 2 years since One Direction faded out, and Louis and Harry had now been dating for 6 years. Which seemed like forever, to be honest. Zayn and Perrie got married after dating for three years, so for them to have waited 6 was quite a big deal.</p>
<p>But then again, they weren't allowed to come out to the public until 4 years after they first started dating. Because, you know, homophobes and stuff. (As Harry liked to put it gently.)</p>
<p>Or, the one with the cheesy proposal and even cheesier wedding.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forever is a Long Time (But I Wouldn't Mind Spending It By Your Side)

**Author's Note:**

> Set in 2016. I don’t know if I got all the British shit right though, do British people get ABC Family on their TV? Probably not but who gives a shit, this is cute.

Harry was never very good at keeping secrets. As a kid he was always  _that guy_  who broke his promise and spilled the beans to someone about some gossip he'd heard and promised not to tell. He always told his best friends things he'd said he wouldn't tell anyone, but he never counted his best friends as "telling someone".

But this was different. This was totally, completely, 100% different. He hadn't told any of the boys, he hadn't told his mother or Gemma, he didn't tell Nick or Lou and Tom; he told nobody but the people he had to involve.

Harry had been known for being cheesy and cliché for as long as he could remember. He'd gone through a lot of labels in his lifetime; nerdy, goody-two-shoes, womanizer, hottie, flamboyant, but cliché and cheesy had both always stuck around.

Like in fourth grade, he wrote the girl he had a crush on a poem on Valentine's day and brought her fruit snacks from the lunch room and dandelions from the playground. She laughed at him and took the fruit snacks, leaving Harry alone and confused in the class room.

When he was 15, he was dating a boy named Josh and when he'd first asked him out, they were at a restaurant getting breakfast and Harry had the chef spell "will you go out with me?" in the syrup on his pancakes. It melted off and it wasn't very easy to tell it said anything, so Josh didn't get it, forcing Harry to ask and explain what'd gone wrong with his first idea.

So Harry hadn't been all too worried about this being "too cheesy". After all, if you've got it, flaunt it, right?

It was October when he decided he wanted to propose to Louis. He'd always known he wanted to marry him, they'd even talked about it a few times. Not in great detail, but late at night sometimes they would talk about when they're finally completely out of the spotlight and able to get married and adopt kids and have a normal sort of life.

Now it'd been 2 years since One Direction faded out, and Louis and Harry had now been dating for 6 years. Which seemed like forever, to be honest. Zayn and Perrie got married after dating for three years, so for them to have waited 6 was quite a big deal.

But then again, they weren't allowed to come out to the public until 4 years after they first started dating. Because, you know, homophobes and stuff. (As Harry liked to put it gently.)

Harry'd gotten everything for the proposal ready privately. He'd picked out the ring, decided how he was going to do it, when he would do it, he wrote out a little speech to give before, and he even went as far as to specially design the box the ring came in. (Cheesy, remember?)

He was going to do it on Christmas. That way all the boys would be there since they were having their reunion on Christmas this year. All of the boys would be there and since Liam always recorded their holidays together, (Don't ask why, Harry couldn't tell you. It'd been a thing since the very first Christmas they spent together as a band.  _"It makes for good memories, c'mon guys!"_ ) Harry would be able to watch Louis' reaction over and over again.

He was thankful that he didn't have to worry about Louis saying no, because they'd both talked about it before, now the only thing that had to be done was someone had to actually pop the question.

That person was going to be Harry and he couldn't wait to do it, but Harry had been good, keeping his plan his own dirty little secret right up until Christmas. And he couldn't have been more excited.

***

"Babe, babe, wake up! It's Christmas and there's  _snow!_ " Harry rubbed his eyes sleepily, well aware that it couldn't be later than 9 am and Louis was  _bouncing_  on him, literally bouncing the  **entire**  bed to wake him up.

"I'm up, I'm up, you can stop jumping around now." He sat up with blurry eyes and looked over at Louis, smiling fondly.

Harry could swear, Louis never mentally grew up past the age of 7. He'd never seen a 26 year old get as excited for Christmas as Louis did. He always had and Harry believed he always would, even when they were old and brittle. 

"Hi babe. I'm glad you're up and I'm sorry you're tired but come look at all of the  **snow**!" Louis said, slotting their fingers together and hopping off the bed, racing toward the window and dragging Harry along with him.

It wasn't odd to have snow in London in December, but usually it mixed with rain and it turned to more of a gray slush. But looking out their bedroom window, Harry couldn't remember the last time he'd seen this much actual snow in London at one time. Their entire backyard was covered in white and the snow was still coming down pretty hard.

"Isn't it pretty?" Louis said, sighing and resting his chin on the windowsill. Harry wrapped his long arms around Louis' torso, kissing the top of his head before laying his head against his shoulder, nodding.

"Do you want some tea? I can make some if you'd like, I know we had a late night and I kinda woke you up early." Louis turned around and grabbed onto Harry's shirt, fisting his hands into the soft fabric. He'd gotten the dark blue long sleeved shirt for Harry as a present on Thanksgiving, and Harry wore it quite often now that it'd gotten colder.

Harry pressed a kiss to Louis' forehead and nodded, sleep still heavy in his eyes. He watched as Louis waddled out of their room and down the hallway to the kitchen. He laughed watching him attempt to run, after last night he had to be sore and it was showing.

They'd had some pretty intense birthday sex and Harry insisted on topping since it was Louis' birthday and that was just  _one_  of his presents. Little did he know how big the other present really was. Louis agreed and Harry pounded him into the mattress, telling him how perfect and beautiful he was the whole time. Right as he came, he mumbled a small "happy birthday baby." and then Louis curled into his side and thanked him. Harry played with his hair and told him he loved him until they both drifted off to sleep.

Harry stumbled out of the room and down to the living room across from the kitchen, watching a very pleased Louis prance around the kitchen, filling the kettle with water and setting it onto the stove before turning the burner on.

Harry hadn't actually gotten a good look at Louis until just now as he was preparing their tea. He was wearing his dark blue plaid flannel pajama pants that he wore the absolute  _shit_  out of. He was also wearing one of Harry's ridiculously big sweaters; one that was actually big on Harry, so Louis was practically drowning in it.

It was simple; white and thick cotton. Tea, Louis, and white weren't a good combination, but since it was Christmas, Harry would let it slide. Besides, the way the sleeves flopped over his hands and gave him cute little sweater paws made Harry's heart smile and he liked watching him push the sleeves up every 10 seconds because they were so big on him, drooping over his hands.

When Louis came into the living room, Harry had the TV on, playing the Christmas movie marathon that always played on ABC Family. He smiled and handed Harry his tea, which Louis had so ironically poured into their "Mr and Mrs" mugs. How fitting for the occasion.

They watched Christmas movies and drank tea for awhile, Louis draped over Harry like a blanket on the couch. Around 11, the boys showed up, all with bags filled with presents like Santa Claus. - _"There are extras in here from Perrie, she's a sap when it comes to Christmas gifts."-_

Harry's palms were sweating as he excused himself from the living room to go to their bedroom. Liam was setting up his ridiculous camera on his ridiculous tripod so they were all in the frame and Zayn was sorting the presents out as Louis and Niall laughed at how traditional they'd become over time.

Harry entered their room and closed the door quietly behind him, hands shaking. He took a deep breath and walked to their closet, going to their (his) sock drawer and reaching inside, fishing out a pair of bright pink knee-highs and unrolling them, getting the small velvet box out of them. 

He chose to hide it there because Louis never wore socks anyway, even in the winter. If he did, he usually just stole them off of Harry's feet- _"They're warm! When I get them from the drawer they're not warm yet!"_ -. He hid the box inside a pair of socks that even if Louis came searching for socks, he wouldn't pick because well, they were bright pink. Knee-highs. (Harry wore them once to a Halloween party, but he only kept them because they were really really warm. Yeah, that's the excuse he'll go with.)

He opened the box to make sure the ring was still there, and it was. 14 karat white gold with two rows of diamonds. Sure, it'd been expensive and maybe he'd gone a little over the top, but they were still floating in money from their One Direction days and if he was going to spend a small fortune, it might as well be on something important, right?

He tucked the box into the pocket of his sweatpants and went back downstairs to where the boys had started to open presents. He wiped the sweat from his hands and all of his nerves disappeared as soon as Louis looked over at him with excitement and adoration in his eyes.

****

2 hours later and they'd finished opening presents. Sweaters, fancy tea, socks as a gag gift for Louis, condoms for everyone (God bless Niall's little heart), and shoes. There were so many things in the room that Liam made everyone take a break and make their own piles so they didn't get mixed up.

Just as Liam was getting up to turn off the camera, Harry hurried over to Liam and quickly pulled him away from the tripod.

"Can you keep it on for just a little while longer? I have one more present to give to Lou." Liam nodded and smiled, sitting back down on the floor next to his pile of gifts. 

Harry and Louis always gave each other their presents last on Christmas, so after Louis gave Harry his new shoes ( _"Those boots you have are horrible, these are the same ones but they're new. Please babe, wear them and toss those old ratty ones out."_ ), apron, cookbook, and CD's, they figured they were done.

But Harry hadn't even started.

He scooted closer to Louis, grabbing his hands and kissing him on the cheek before pecking his lips twice. He really hoped his hands weren't sweating.

"Louis, this is our 6th Christmas together as a couple. I don't know if you realized that, but I was thinking about it, and damn. We've been dating for 6 years. That's weird." He said with a laugh, happy to see Louis smile in front of him.

"So since we've been dating for 6 years, you know how cheesy I am and this is about as cheesy as it's going to get. So you should all prepare yourselves." He turned to the boys and motioned with his hands and they all laughed, obviously just as confused as Louis.  _Good, this is good._

"I remember when you first asked me out, I remember our first kiss, I remember the first time we said I love you, I remember the first time we had sex. I remember all of these tiny little moments from right at the beginning when everything was happy and pure and wonderful. God, it was so easy at first. But we all know that isn't how it always was.

We went through so much shit, so so much shit. We've gone through everything together in these past 6 years, and no matter what, we've stuck together. When things got tough, we just clung tighter to each other and cried for awhile, but we never gave up. You never gave up on me Louis, never. And I hope you know I never gave up on you either.

You've loved me since I was an awkward, chubby, curly headed 16 year old. Yeah, I guess I'm still awkward and curly headed sometimes now, but not as bad as back then." Harry stopped, running a hand through his hair before linking it back to Louis'. He took a deep breath and continued.

"I remember when I first realized I was in love with you. We were at my mum's house and you were in the kitchen talking to my mum as she made dinner and it was as casual of a conversation as me and her have. It was like you were part of the family, just talking to my mother so naturally about me, bragging like I was some trophy you'd won. It hit me like a ton of bricks, really.

I think that was also when I realized that you were who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. God, Louis you make me so fucking happy and I love you so fucking much. I love your hair and how messy it is when you first wake up, I love that you never wear socks even though it makes your shoes and feet smell awful, I love when you complain about it being too hot for blankets but you still cuddle me, I love that you wash my hair for me when I'm lazy, I love that you're shorter than me and I can kiss your forehead perfectly.

I really love all the pet names you give me, I love that you're 26 years old but still get excited when your favorite movie plays or on Christmas morning or when you get packages in the mail. I love your perfect blue eyes and I love all of your tattoos, I love that you told management to fuck off and learn some respect when they made me cry those few times. I love that you sing our old songs while you shower and I love that you insist on wearing my clothes even when they're much too big for you.

I love your little freckles and your tan skin, I love your glasses and your perfect bum. I love how small your hands are and how much bigger mine look when we hold hands. I love your cute little ankles and when you roll your jeans and it shows them off. I love that you laugh at my stupid jokes and I love that you work out with me and watch old movies with me.

I love you so fucking much and I never want to be with anyone else. So there's only one thing I have left to say," Harry stood up off the couch, pulling the small black box from his pocket and kneeled in front of Louis, opening the box for him.

"Louis William Tomlinson, will you marry me?"

The look on Louis' face alone could've made Harry cry if he hadn't been trying so hard to hold it all in. His eyes were wide and rimmed with tears, his mouth was wide open and he had it covered with his little hands. But he dropped his hands from his face and grabbed Harry's shirt, pulling him in for a kiss.

Their lips locked and Harry felt hot tears hit his face. He smiled into the kiss before pulling back and looking him dead in the eye.

"So is that a yes?" He said, wiping a tear that was falling down his tanned skin and sharp cheekbones. Louis nodded.

"Yes. 100, 100,000, 1 million times yes. Fuck, Harry I love you." He stood up off the couch and hugged him properly, standing on his tippytoes to wrap his arms around the taller boy's neck and kiss him again. Harry slid the ring onto his finger and held it up to look at before turning around toward the other boys.

Liam and Niall were crying and Zayn looked like he was holding it in as well as he could.

"Wait, none of them knew about this either??" Louis asked, reading the other boy's expressions one by one.

"We had no idea! We thought it was just presents and dinner, not presents a sappy proposal and  **then**  dinner!" Liam laughed, wiping at his eyes.

"Congrats guys, we're happy for you." Zayn said, smile so wide Harry thought his face was going to split. Louis squeezed Harry's hand tighter before dropping his hand and holding his hand out to all of the boys.

"When did you plan all of this, Harry? And how the hell did you manage to keep it a secret?" Niall asked, looking from Louis to Harry with a smile on his face.

"About two months ago, I guess. I wanted it to be perfect and I wanted to surprise everyone, not just Louis. So I didn't tell anyone." Harry squeezed Louis' small hand tighter and the older boy looked up at him, tears still in his eyes with a huge smile on his face.

"And it was. Absolutely perfect."

"I love you."

"I love you too, Harry." Louis said, pressing his lips against the other boy's.

****

Telling their family was one of their favorite parts. Getting to see their reactions was priceless. When they told Jay and the girls, Jay burst into tears and pulled both of them into a tight hug. There were congratulations all around and hugs, there were a lot of laughs and hugs and there were plenty of tears.

Telling Anne, Robin, and Gemma was harder than Harry thought it'd be. He'd recently gotten in a spat with his mother because he spent so much time sneaking around planning the whole thing and asking her about places to get flowers or if he could look through some of her magazines (to look for wedding stuff, obviously.) and when she asked what he was planning, Harry refused to tell her.

So naturally, she'd gotten mad and then he left and they hadn't talked as much recently. When Harry called her and asked if he could come over she said yes. Plainly because of course, she still loved him and he was welcome over whenever, but Harry had said he had news to tell them and she wanted to know what it was.

"Louis and I are getting married." Harry said bluntly, gripping onto Louis' hand tighter under the table. He felt Louis' eyes on him, and he knew that he could tell he was nervous. He also knew that Louis knew he wasn't nervous because he was embarrassed or that he was scared they wouldn't accept it, because of course they'd support them. Harry just didn't fight with his mother often and he felt awkward.

But when his mother squealed and began to cry, he smiled and stood up to hug her.

"I knew it! I knew you were acting fishy, Harold!" Gemma said, laughing at her mother who was fanning herself with her hands as Harry and Louis tried to calm her down enough to hug her.

Thankfully, everyone they told was very supportive and not surprised at all. Grimmy actually had a bet going with some people from the morning show whether it'd be Harry that proposed or Louis. Nick was wrong; he thought it'd be Louis because "Harry is the girl in the relationship."

And after much planning, they decided on a summer wedding with only their close friends and family. That's all that mattered, having the people they loved there with them when they got married.

They planned everything (with the help of their mothers and sisters of course.) and invitations were sent by March. They were getting married in a small church near London on July 23rd, the anniversary of the band being put together. (The date of the wedding was actually Zayn's idea. He doesn't give himself enough credit for his great ideas.)

****

Sure enough, July 23rd came along and Harry and Louis were fixing each other's hair and smoothing their suits down, getting ready to walk down the aisle.

"You ready to marry me, Tomlinson?" Harry said, adjusting Louis' black and white polka dotted tie, smoothing down his jacket and stepping back to admire him.

"That's Mr. Styles-Tomlinson to you, Harold." Louis said with a smirk, hands reaching for Harry's. He pulled him in closer, and leaned in for a kiss.

"Oi! Lovebirds! Wait til the dude says to kiss the bride!" Niall shouted from across the room. Harry blushed and looked down at his feet, smiling as Louis flipped Niall the bird.

"C'mon Niall, the ceremony is starting, let's go sit down." Ellie said, pulling him up from his seat and taking his hand to take their seats. Ellie and Niall had been dating for two years now, and Ellie was more than excited to be at the wedding. When she found out they were engaged, she squealed and jumped around just as loud as Louis' mother had.

Harry looked back up at Louis, hands shaking.

"Are you nervous, sweetheart?" Louis said, grabbing hold of Harry's hands again.

"Not nervous, just..scared." Harry said with a stiff chuckle. Louis let out a loud laugh and pulled him in for a hug.

"That's okay baby, I am too. But hey, you know what? We made it this far, we're just making it official now." Harry kissed the top of Louis' hair gel covered head and nodded. He wasn't too scared to go through with it, of course not. He was just nervous like how he used to get before a show.

****

The chapel doors swung open, piano music starting as everyone turned to look at the two beginning to walk down the aisle. Louis gripped Harry's hand tighter as they walked, causing Harry to look over at him, sending him a look as if to say  _"You alright?"_  Louis nodded and looked forward again, focusing on not tripping and making it to where the pastor was standing without falling over.

"Family and friends, on behalf of Harry and Louis, I welcome you all here today for this beautiful marriage ceremony. We are here today to celebrate and support the covenant these two men are going to make. We are here to share in the joy that Louis and Harry experience as they pledge their love and commitment to each other." Pastor Joe said, looking out at the group of people gathered in the church and smiled. Louis got butterflies.

"We rejoice in the manner God has led them to each other and got them to the place where they now stand. The step which you are about to take is the most important into which human beings can come. It is a bond between two people created upon mutual respect and affection. Your lives will change, your responsibilities will increase, but your happiness will be multiplied if you are sincere and earnest with your pledge to one another. Would you like to say a few words, Louis?"

"Yes, Pastor Joe, thank you." He stopped to clear his throat and wipe his sweaty hands against his pants. He looked up at Harry, who had a wide smile on his face and bright eyes. Harry's eyes always shined when he looked at Louis and Louis loved that. He loved being the center of attention, especially when it came to Harry.

"Harry, I can't believe this day has finally come. I finally get to marry you. I can honestly say I've been waiting for this day for what seems like forever. Ever since the first time we kissed, I knew I wasn't going to let you go. We've had little spats and arguments along the way, but we always came back to each other." He took a breath and looked over at his mother, who was sitting next to Harry's mother. Her hand was interlocked with Anne's and they both had tears in their eyes already.

"We were at the same concert for The Script and never saw each other, but when we actually met in the bathroom back during X Factor auditions, I knew you were going to be a star. I remember how excited I was that I got to talk to you, and when we both got put through, I made as many excuses as possible to be near you. But when we got put into a band together, that just felt surreal. It was like fate.

Every single day I got to be with you I fell for you more and more. I realized how deep I'd actually gotten myself involved with you when you cried when we didn't win. Seeing you cry felt like someone was ripping my heart out of my chest. I never have liked seeing you cry, but even when you cry you're beautiful. Your tears make your eyes so much greener, but they  _are_  tears and that's something I was the cause of far too many times." He saw Harry's smile falter a bit, knowing that he was remembering the hard times they were forced through throughout the years.

The thing about Harry is that he'll never admit to how upset it actually made him when they had to hide. He would never admit that seeing Louis out with Eleanor and seeing tweets about them being "so in love" made him cry, full out sobs that wracked his body.

If you asked him how he felt about Eleanor, he would never tell you that he actually hated her. He would never tell you that he hated how she dragged Louis to every stupid girly store she could find and how she sipped her Starbucks with one hand while scrolling through her Instagram feed on her phone with the other.

Only Louis knows these things. He knows these things because he was there to witness them firsthand. He was there when Harry was curled up in his pink fleece blanket in the corner of their room, struggling for air in between his sobs; he came home to that too many times.

He saw how tense Harry got when a mass amount of tweets about Elounor came in at one time. He saw Harry's eyes fill with tears and watched his bottom lip quiver as he sent out that tweet in November of 2012 saying their love was bullshit. He was the one who chased him outside when he said he needed some air and he was the one who cried into his chest, apologizing for everything that was wrong in their lives.

He was the one who had to literally  **pry**  the bottle of pills out of his shaking hands when he felt like he couldn't deal with it anymore. He was the one who threw the pill bottle down the stairs and locked himself in the bathroom with Harry, holding him and kissing him until his tears were gone. He was the only one who knew about this; nobody else needed to know, nor would they ever find out.

"I'm sorry for all of the shit we went through and how long we had to hide. I'm sorry that I didn't stand up to management sooner and I'm sorry that I couldn't show you off in public like we wished we could. Things were tough, everyone here in this room knows that. Everyone in here saw the toll it took on us and everyone here saw us get right back up again and become even stronger." He reached forward to grab one of Harry's hands, the younger boy looking at him again now, green eyes shining with tears.

"But look where we are now, baby. Look how far we've come. All of that ridiculous shit we went through 3 years ago? We got so much stronger because of it. It got us to where we are now and I wouldn't change any of it for the world because I love where I am with you, right here, right now. And I can't wait to spend every day for the rest of my life, watching it getting even better." He finished, clearing his throat and surprising himself for not crying throughout the whole speech.

Everyone began to clap and he smiled, no, he  _ **beamed**_. He wiped a tear from his eye that now chose to fall. (Which is better maybe, considering he'd finished talking and his voice wouldn't crack.)

"Thank you, Louis. That was beautiful. How about you, Harry?" Pastor Joe said, looking over to Harry, who was now wiping his eyes with a proud smile on his face.

"Okay, well give me a second to catch my breath and calm down a bit after that." Harry said with a laugh, the group of people crowded in the room following closely behind. Louis blushed and smiled fondly at Harry, who had composed himself and was clearing his throat to prepare himself.

"I gave you a pretty long speech when I proposed to you, so I'm going to try to keep this relatively short. I have no idea where to begin with this. I've known you for almost 7 years but it feels like I've known you my whole life. We've been through so much together and I can't even begin to explain how lucky I feel to be able to call you mine."

"I love you so much, I can't even sum it all up right now because that would take days and we don't have that kind of time. And I talk pretty slow anyway, so I'm sure everyone would rather not listen to that." Everyone laughed, including Pastor Joe. He'd been a family friend of Harry's ever since he was little and his mom had suggested him to do the wedding service.

"But, I will say that this will go down in history as the happiest day of my life and you mean more to me than anyone else I've ever met besides my actual blood related family. I'm glad it was you I bumped into in the toilets 6 years ago, I'm glad it was you I got put into a group with, and I'm glad it was you who fell in love with me and I had the honor of falling right back in love with."

He finished and looked up at Louis with love in his eyes, happy to see Louis staring right back at him with the exact same expression. The crowd clapped again, causing Harry to laugh because of course they're clapping at a wedding, not even bothering to care if it's not what you traditionally do.

"Thank you, Harry. Alright then, let's begin. The wedding ring symbolizes unity, a circle unbroken, without beginning or end. Today, Harry and Louis exchange these rings as confirmation of their vows to join their lives, to work at all times to create a life that is complete and unbroken and to love each other unconditionally." Harry's palms began to sweat and he could swear, he's never been happier in his entire life.

Pastor Joe handed them both the rings and Harry grinned proudly as he slipped the band onto Louis' small finger. Louis ignored his shaky hands and took the other ring from the man standing before them and slid it onto Harry's ring finger. Pastor Joe turned to Louis and looked him in the eye. 

"Please join your right hands and declare your approval and unity. Do you take Harry Styles to be your lawful wedded husband to have and behold from this day on, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"

"I do." Louis said, smiling at Harry, taking his right hand, not caring at all that both of their hands were sweating horribly.

"Do you take Louis Tomlinson to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and behold from this day on, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"

"I do." Harry said, squeezing Louis' hand and smiling even bigger at him.

"Harry, Louis, you have given and pledged your promises to each other and have declared your everlasting love by exchanging the rings. Your vows may have been spoken in minutes, but your promises to each other will last until your last breaths. I'm proud to say, I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may now kiss your husband."

Louis let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding and leaned in to  **finally**  kiss Harry. Harry cupped the back of Louis' head and held the small of his back, dipping him to the side and pressing their lips together. He felt Louis smile and he couldn't help but smile back, having the realization dawn on him that they really were married now.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Mr. and Mr. Styles-Tomlinson." You could hear the smile in his voice as he said it, and Harry was glad he'd chosen him to marry them. Or more so, his mother chose him. 

Harry pulled Louis back up and leaned their foreheads together, biting his lip before smiling wildly at him for what seemed like the thousandth time that day.

"Hi Mr. Styles-Tomlinson." Louis grinned back at him and leaned in to peck him on the lips again.

"Hi hubby." Harry laughed and sighed, grabbing his hand and walking over to their family.

"You're not going to start calling me that now, are you?" He whined, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"I can call you whatever I want to call you, Harold. Hubby may or may not become one of them." He laughed and let go of his hand to hug his mother while Harry did the same to his. There were hugs and tears all around, from their families and from the boys. 

They were talking to Liam, Zayn, and Niall when they both got tapped on the shoulder. They simultaneously turned around and were shocked when they saw Simon Cowell standing in front of them. They hadn't seen him when they were standing in front of everyone nor had they seen him when they were walking down the aisle.

"Simon! We didn't know you were here!" Harry said, pulling him into a hug as the older man laughed.

"I sat in the back and kept quiet throughout the ceremony. Very loud family you two have." Simon laughed and smoothed his jacket down.

"So why are you here? Not to sound rude, but like, how did you find out where the ceremony was?"

"Louis, your mother sent me an invitation and I just had to come. You know, I knew right from the very beginning that you two had hit it off. You were always closer than everyone else and when I caught you two snogging backstage, I realized that I was right." Harry felt his cheeks blush. He couldn't remember Simon seeing them, or seeing Simon..but then again, they did have quite a few heated makeout sessions backstage. Whoops.

"So, seeing where we are now, I was right from the very beginning. I knew you two were going to get together sooner or later. I just came to say congratulations and you're welcome. For you know, connecting you two." He said with a smirk. Of course, it wouldn't be Simon if he didn't add some selfishness into whatever conversation he was having.

They both laughed and pulled him into a hug, waving goodbye to him before he headed off.

****

That night when they got home, they kicked off their shoes and sat down on the couch together; Harry's head resting in Louis' lap.

"I don't think I've ever smiled for so many pictures in my life. And we went to  **a lot**  of award shows during the One Direction time period." Louis laughed, playing with a few stray hairs of Harry's that had fallen from his neatly done hair sometime during the night. He wiped some icing from Harry's forehead and licked it, laughing as he did so.

"You've still got cake in your hair, babe." Harry groaned.

"Thanks to you, oh lovely husband of mine."

_When the cake was cut, Louis had grabbed the first slice he could and picked off a small piece to feed to his newlywed husband. Harry smiled as he bit it, but when he saw Louis pick up the whole piece and bring it towards his face, he knew what was coming. His vision was blurred by vanilla cake and light blue icing._

_"You're gonna get it, Lou." He said through gritted teeth, wiping his eyes and grabbing another piece, shoving it into Louis' face. Then it turned into an all out cake war until Anne stopped them._

_"Other people need cake too, honey. It's not all for you to throw around."_

"Hey, you shoved some in my face too! Don't make me the bad guy!" Harry sat up from Louis' lap and kissed him softly.

"Babe, I was kidding. I love you." 

"I love you too." Louis said with a smile. He yawned and rubbed his eyes and Harry couldn't help but smile at how adorable he looked.

"Bed?" Louis nodded.

"Bed." Harry stood up and grabbed Louis' hands, pulling him up from the couch.

"Whatever you say, my love." Harry scooped Louis up bridal style, ignoring his girly scream, and carried him to their bedroom. He tossed him gently onto the bed and undid his tie before laying down next to him on the bed.

"I'm tired, but I think we have one last thing to do before our wedding day is over." Louis looked over to Harry as he raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah? And what's that?" Louis propped himself up on one elbow and looked over to Harry.

"I'm pretty sure you're supposed to make love to me like it's the last time you'll ever get to." Harry laughed loudly and kissed Louis.

"But it won't be the last time, right?" Louis laughed and shook his head.

"Of course not, dear. The first time of many to come."

"Well, okay then." Harry smirked at the older boy before leaning over to their nightstand to turn the lamp off.

That night, they fell asleep together, sweaty limbs entangled and sheets lazily draped over them. Right before they fell asleep, Harry intertwined their fingers and pulled his hand up to kiss the ring on his finger.

"Mine." Harry whispered to Louis. He didn't need the light to be on to know that Louis had a smile on his face.

"Yours." Louis whispered back.

"Forever."


End file.
